Just a couple of hours out and about today, it was too grey and dull and miserable to be out for longer. I managed over a hundred species, but they were almost as an aside. I had a couple of specific targets in mind today and happily I successfully found one of them.
As mentioned in a previous post, I have a new blog for you to (hopefully) enjoy and publicise as widely as you can. This year I am going to be spending my time delving deep into the world of Coleoptera and Diptera, the beetles and the true flies. I am very deliberately slowing things down in 2020. I am no longer trying to wrap my head around everything from lichens to millipedes, from springtails to micro-fungi. My head just isn't retaining enough knowledge, I've spread myself too thinly for years now. I do believe that I'm a pretty decent general naturalist, but I am rubbish when it comes to the nitty-gritty of species recognition in far too many groups.
My new blog is dedicated purely to the beetles and the true flies. In a moment of sheer pun-tastic brilliance, I thought of a catchy title. Google quickly showed me that just about everyone else had already beaten me to it, but I kept it anyway - PSL - 2020 Vision. Clever, huh? You can find it by clicking on https://psl2020vision.blogspot.com/. By all means, feel free to link it to the sidebar in your own blog should you have one, and I fully appreciate that some of you have already linked this blog to yours - thank you!
I've been asked why I don't just incorporate the 2020 Vision into this blog instead of starting yet another new one. Well, I intend to keep this blog running much as it has been, covering topics from plants to birds, Skye Nature Group outings and anything else I feel may be worth sharing with you, doubtless including beetles and flies from time to time!
But I wanted an entirely separate blog to record my progress throughout the year with beetles and flies. That way, I might attract the attention of dedicated coleopterists and dipterists who simply aren't interested in hearing about plant twitches, or moths, or the barnacles on my local beach (though there is a very smart fly called Aphrosylus celtiber that associates with barnacles, now I think of it. It should be here on Skye, it's known from all around...)
Just for fun, today's tally comprised 13 lichens, 7 fungi, 10 bryophytes, 47 vascular plants, 4 molluscs, 1 arachnid, 1 springtail, 1 beetle (you'll just have read the new blog to find out which one), 2 myriapods, 2 crustaceans, 11 birds and 2 mammals. Yep, including human. She was first on the list as it happens.
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